


Day Off

by Nerdgirl001



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Coincidences, Cuties, Day Off, F/M, I love them and they love eachother, So. Much. Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 22:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9568877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdgirl001/pseuds/Nerdgirl001
Summary: Mulder and Scully finally get a day off, the only downside is they don't get to see each other... Or do they? Hint: yes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a mini fic and then I kept writing and it kept getting cuter... I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it :) 
> 
> ~~~ signifies change in perspective or time

Scully woke up to her alarm blaring the radio at her. Her hand reached out and slammed down on the power button before her mind could try to catch up. She looked at the time and smiled. It had been forever since she had had a real day off. Supposedly they got weekends off, but the last three cases had started on a Friday. Skinner had made the executive decision to let them off early yesterday so they could actually have a weekend that month. He told them with some long winded speech about how he couldn't keep paying them for 24/7 service. Scully sprang out of bed, eager for an early morning shower. The list of chores she had been putting off ran through her mind. At 7:15 she got into the shower.

~~~

Mulder woke up to a loud explosion emanating from his television set. He groaned and looked at the clock. He jumped up when he saw it was 7:00. He scrambled to his bedroom and began getting ready to leave for work, when the realization came over him that it was Saturday. He practically melted into his mattress with a small in-your-face laugh. He decided he was going to sleep until he woke up from the mid day sun blazing in his eyes, as was supposed to be on Saturdays. He slipped under the blankets and smiled warmly into his pillow as he quickly drifted back into sleep. 

~~~

Scully stepped out of the shower and breathed a deep breath of the steamy air. She smiled, she hadn't been able to take a morning shower in weeks, they'd all been late at night in the crappy hotel half baths. She quickly got changed into her civilian clothes, a simple T-shirt with some city name scrawled across the chest and jeans. As she ran through the chore list again she turned on her radio and began humming along to the music that poured from the speakers. She went into the kitchen and made herself some breakfast.

~~~

Mulder turned over in his sleep, his dreams racing through all sorts of summery things. Sun-filled baseball games, stargazing on the roof of a car, lemonade stands ran by him and his sister when they were young. 

~~~

Scully looked up from her sink which was only a quarter full of dishes now as her stomach growled. 1:25. She supposed she should finish the last few dishes and then go get something from the fridge. As she scrubbed she realized that her fridge was basically empty. As she dried the last bowl she walked toward her pantry, thinking that maybe she had some sort of canned food in there. No luck. She sighed, today was definitely grocery day- after she ate lunch, her stomach reminded her. She remembered a small sandwich shop that had opened up not too far from her apartment. She decided to head there and then go get her groceries, and to reward herself, she'd make a fancy dinner that night. With ice cream. 

~~~

Mulder rolled out of bed at around 1:15 that morning with a smile on his face. He felt like a teenager again. With that in mind, he walked directly from bed to the refrigerator. He opened it up, half expecting the leftovers from family dinner the night before to be there. He was quickly pulled from this delusion, however, when he saw his empty fridge. He sighed, he'd have to work on that whole family dinner thing. His mind quickly turned to a sandwich shop that Scully had mentioned a few days ago. She had said it was about halfway between their apartments and that it sold amazing sandwiches. His stomach growled approval, and he went to get dressed and head out to the shop.

~~~

Scully arrived at the sandwich shop at 1:45 and walked in breathing deep breaths of the mouthwatering aromas. She quickly ordered her sandwich, but instead of ordering it to go, she decided to stay to enjoy the summer air that filled the shop and watch the birds and families passing by. As she sat down and waited for her sandwich she wondered what Mulder was doing with his day off. Maybe she'd call him that night while she was eating her amazing dinner and rub it in his face as she was sure he was getting takeout. As she pondered what she was going to make a familiar face slipped past her in the crowd.

~~~

He saw her as soon as he walked into the place. The picture perfect image of her swam before his eyes.  
"I'll take the flying saucer please" he said as he approached the register. Not only was she named the flying saucer, she was also the perfect sandwich. He vaguely wondered if Scully had put them up to this. Maybe she had come in on the first day and told them to make that sandwich, maybe she owned part of the restaurant, his mind came up with a million and a half possibilities, each one crazier then the last.  
"Dana." someone called from the back. Mulder's head snapped up for a second before realizing it was probably a coincidence. As Scully walked in front of him however, he began to think differently. She grabbed her sandwich and turned, nearly running directly into him. It was his fault as he had instinctively stepped in line with his partner, but the look on her face was worth the nearly tripping over a small child who happened to be running behind him at that moment. He made sure the kid didn't fall, and then turned back to Scully, his face as priceless to her as hers was to him. 

"I've got a flying saucer for Moldy? Molder? Mulder." the man called from behind the counter, cheeks turning red as he tried to read his co-worker's chicken scratch writing. 

Scully gave him that look, the I-don't-know-why-I'm-ever-surprised-anymore look mixed with her staple, the I'm-never-letting-that-go look, with one eyebrow raised and a smirk crossing her lips. He came right back with his it-must-be-a-coincidence smile and head wobble. 

"Sir, your sandwich is ready." the man was obviously looking directly at Mulder so he grabbed the plate and thanked him. 

"What brings you here, moldy?" she asked, already employing the new pet name, "I thought you said that you don't like sandwiches." Scully said, eyes twinkling, as they found a seat. 

"Well sugar-bun," he said equally enjoying the act of making her uncomfortable, "I said I don't like crappy sandwiches, then you guaranteed that they were fantastic, so I decided to trust you." he said with a winning smile. 

Scully accepted his response without rebuttal as she had already taken a bite of her sandwich. 

~~~

"So, where are you off to?" Mulder held the door open as Scully exited the shop. 

"Grocery shopping." she responded.

Mulder gave her a small smile, "No kidding." he paused as Scully raised an eyebrow at him, "that was my plan too." he gallantly held out an arm to her and gave her that winning smile that she could never say no to. 

Scully laughed and accepted his arm, "Well I walked here, so we're going to have to take your car."

"Deal."

~~~

Mulder turned up the radio as soon as he started the car. "You may be right" by Billy Joel filled the car and they were off. 

Scully couldn't help herself from laughing as Mulder dramatically sang the chorus to her at a stop light. She even allowed herself to sing along, although she believed herself to be an absolutely terrible singer. 

"You may be right  
I may be crazy  
But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for  
Turn out the light  
Don't try to save me  
You may be wrong for all I know  
But you may be right

Remember how I found you there  
Alone in your electric chair  
I told you dirty jokes until you smiled  
You were lonely for a man  
I said take me as I am  
'Cause you might enjoy some madness for a while

Now think of all the years you tried to  
Find someone to satisfy you  
I might be as crazy as you say  
If I'm crazy then it's true  
That it's all because of you  
And you wouldn't want me any other way"

As the song continued they both sang louder and ended up yelling "you may be wrong but you may be right" over and over as the song faded out and they pulled into the store parking lot. 

~~~

"You're a scientist." Mulder said with a long dramatic sigh as Scully paused at a magazine promising to have the secret to losing 20 pounds in two weeks. "Plus, where are you going to get twenty pounds? Maybe if you chopped off an arm..." he picked up her arm from her side and seemed to be weighing it, "or two." 

Scully pulled her arm back and stuck out her tongue at him. "For your information, I was looking at this" she said gesturing to the corner of the magazine which claimed to debunk the top ten UFO sightings across America. 

Mulder squinted his eyes at the small font in the corner before rolling them and walking away calling "sure Scully, sure." 

~~~

"What's with all these fancy ingredients?" Mulder asked as Scully grabbed a bottle of marsala wine and placed it into her cart. Mulder meanwhile was buying the store out of their frozen dinners and canned foods sections. 

"I'm making dinner tonight." Scully said cheerfully. Then upon seeing the longing in his eyes for a home cooked meal, "Would you like to join me for dinner Mulder?"

~~~

"Can I store these in your freezer?" Mulder asked as they began unpacking the car at Scully's apartment.

"Yes, just don't leave without them. I don't want to look like a frat boy to my guests." Scully grabbed the last few bags from the trunk and they began the trip up to her apartment. 

Mulder argued with her about the fact that many adults ate frozen meals, and asked how she was so high and mighty to avoid them. Their conversation took quick turns between science and conjecture mixed with an ample supply of jabs at each other's habits. 

~~~

Mulder offered to put away the groceries and Scully accepted as she wanted to get started on preparing the chicken. 

She placed two large chicken breasts on a sheet of wax paper and then covered them with another sheet and grabbed her meat pounder.

As she began to flatten the chicken she noticed Mulder making strange gestures out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and smiled as Mulder leaned up against the counter and pretended to be telling a story that was completely drown out by the preparations Scully was completing. She stopped hammering and was impressed as Mulder carried on, actually speaking now, through some story about his morning. 

"And then, I got out of bed, you see, and I thought, 'hmm ya know, I'm pretty hungry' so I walked to the fridge and-" Scully, quickly realizing the a the story was going nowhere shook her head and turned back to flattening the chicken to be 1/4" thick. 

~~~

As she placed the chicken into the steaming pan of garlic and parsley marinading in vegetable oil the crackling intensified and she smiled. She loved the sounds of cooking. 

Mulder began to set the table as Scully poured the wine and mushrooms into the pan, "dinner's almost ready!" she called, realizing quickly that she did sound a bit like her mother. 

She let the pan sizzle as she grabbed the wine glasses from the cabinet. She held one up and looked at Mulder, who smiled and nodded as he expertly folded the napkins. 

He walked over to her and took the glasses to place at the table, he silently wished that this was how it always was. Him and Scully, making dinners, listening to music, living their lives together. 

As he placed the wine cups on the table he let out a small sigh.

"Is everything alright?" Scully asked from behind him, closer than he thought she was. 

He turned around, eyes glistening, "that smells amazing" he said with a smile as he took a deep breath and filled his lungs with the smell of chicken and marsala before he released it making a similar noise to the sigh earlier. 

She smiled and turned back to the pan, "well good, it's nearly done. Want to grab the wine?" 

Mulder walked over to her pantry and opened it up, he smiled as he saw the canned foods that he himself had put in there. He grabbed a red wine and walked back to the table as she was serving their food. 

Scully quickly cleaned up herself and the kitchen as Mulder poured the wine. She smiled to herself and wished that this was how it always was. Her and Mulder, playing house, enjoying each other's company, living their lives, together. 

They sat down to eat, and gave cheers to days off. As Mulder took his first bite of the meal he let out a small moan. Scully looked vaguely surprised and nearly choked on her wine. 

Mulder smiled, "I'd come over there and kiss you if I could stop eating this for long enough." 

Scully felt her cheeks blush slightly and responded, "has it been that long since you've had a home cooked meal?"

Mulder didn't respond, he was smiling and munching on another bite of chicken. 

~~~

"Shit!" Scully closed the freezer. "I forgot the ice cream." she sighed and Mulder looked up from the plate he was scrubbing clean. 

"I think we'll be able to fix that." he rinsed off the plate and placed it next to the other on the drying rack. "There's this little ice cream shop down the road a ways. Let's go. It'll be my treat." he smiled at her, "it's the least I can do." 

She considered it for a moment then nodded. "Alright." 

~~~

"Just how far away is this place?" Scully asked, turning down the radio slightly. 

Mulder tut-ed at her and shook his head, "you're so impatient. Am I making you late for a hot date or something?" 

Scully shook her head, "I was promised ice cream half an hour ago. That's enough to make anyone impatient." 

"It was not half an hour ago." Mulder said offendedly.

"Yes it was! We left my apartment at 8:24. It's now 8:50." Scully said defiantly. 

Mulder smiled, "see? That's not thirty minutes, that's twenty four." 

They argued for a little while about whether or not it counted as being thirty minutes until they came to the line "No Mulder, I'm the one who checks the time. You're the one who makes it fly by." her cheeks flushed either from that statement or the heat of battle, but in any case, the argument stopped.

Mulder began to pull the car off into a desolate parking lot and Scully eyed him, "Mulder this place is closed." 

Mulder raised his eyebrows at her and smiled, "just because the sign doesn't light up and they don't have any customers doesn't mean that they're closed." 

He parked the car and got out. Before scully could decide if she was getting out Mulder opened her door and held out his hand to her, "Do you trust me?" 

She was now more skeptical then ever, but she took his hand nonetheless. 

They walked into the tiny ice cream parlor and saw a man behind the counter fast asleep. Mulder cleared his throat and the man woke with a start. "Agent Mulder! And you must be agent Scully." 

Scully looked to Mulder to explain how this man knew their names, but before he could say a word the man answered her question.

"Oh I'm sorry how rude of me. I'm Joseph. Agent Mulder helped me get a spirit out of this place so I could open up shop! So obviously when he called me tonight and asked me to stay open late, I couldn't say no!" Joseph was smiling a big beaming smile. 

"Oh really?" Scully said turning to Mulder again, "and when was this? How come I never heard of this one. The great ice cream caper? The gelato ghost? The popsicle poltergeist? I could go all night." 

Mulder laughed, "This is why you write the reports. I never know what to name them." 

Scully rolled her eyes playfully and then turned her attention to the display of colorful flavors in front of her. "Can I have... Two scoops of the chocolate moose. Thank you." 

Now it was Mulder's turn to step up to plate, "I'll take a scoop of the French chocolate, and one of the peanut butter cups, with whipped cream and a cherry please." He smiled as Joseph made his cup of ice cream and placed it on the bar. "What do I owe you?" 

Joseph waved his hand, "No charge!" 

Mulder began to argue when scully grabbed the five dollars that Mulder had in his hand and placed it into the tip jar, "Why don't we eat these outside so Joseph here can close up shop and go home?" Scully asked, smiling brightly.

Mulder nodded and smiled back, "of course, after you M'lady." he gestured toward the door in a half bow making Scully shake her head and walk outside, "thanks again" Mulder whispered to Joseph who gave him a thumbs up and an "any time!" in response.

They walked into the fresh summer evening air, the skies were clear and the sun was casting pink and orange hues over the scene as it set below the trees. 

Mulder jumped up onto the hood of the car and padded the place next to him. Scully smilled and joined him. They were quiet for some time as they ate their ice cream and watched the last few rays of sunlight dip below the horizon. Scully allowed Mulder's left arm to go around her shoulders as they leaned back, resting against the windshield, and looked toward the first few stars that twinkled into view. 

As the stars started showing up in vast quantities Mulder's arm held Scully a little tighter. "Did you ever believe that stars are our ancestors looking down at us?"

Scully shook her head, "no, but I've never really heard the tale either. How did they get up there?" as she spoke she scooted closer to Mulder until she could feel his heat warming her side. She placed her head on his shoulder as he began to speak, she could feel the way his words reverberated through him as he talked.

"There are many different tales. Some say that when we die our spirits rise up out of us and toward the heavens where we are kept safe and get to look back down upon our loved ones for an eternity." Mulder began absent mindedly stroking Scully's hair as he spoke, "There's this one I read not too long ago. If I remember correctly, it goes like this. There was once a girl who was very beautiful, she used the light of the northern star to travel home every day. She would look at the star as she walked and she would talk to it as if it were her best friend. One night she told the star that she wished to marry it. The next day while she was completing her work away from home she saw a small animal stuck in a tree. She decided to pause what she was doing and help it. As she climbed the tree the animal kept moving up, branch by branch. She also noticed however, that the day was getting colder, and when she looked down to see how far she had come she could no longer see the ground as the tree had begun to grow. Instead of being afraid, however, she became determined to reach her star. As she climbed higher the tree grew faster until she reached another plane. She stepped off of the tree at that point and walked out onto the sky. A young man approached her and told her that he had heard her wanting to marry him, for he was the brightest star in the sky. The girl was overjoyed and she agreed to marry him right away. She was very happy with him, but soon began to feel homesick for her family. As she was walking one day, she saw a turnip growing out of the ground. She pulled the turnip, and saw far below her her people. She decided that she would make a rope from the tall grasses around her to climb down and visit her family again. So, every night as her husband was working, she would tie together these grasses and braid them into a rope. Eventually she had a rope that she felt was long enough to reach the ground, so, she tied one end to a log and threw the other down to the Earth below and she began to climb. She climbed all the way down, until she reached the end. With dismay she found that the rope did not touch the Earth, so she was stuck hanging above it. She cried out for help, but eventually was too tired to hold on and she fell to the Earth below. As she hit the ground she shattered into a million pieces, but her unborn son, who was made of star rock, did not break. He survived the fall and was raised for a while by a nearby Meadowlark. When he was old enough to, her left the nest and found the tribe of his people. He was an incredibly strong and brave boy, who was able to save his people and cure their hunger and thirst. He was named Falling-star, for his mother, and he became a very well respected member of the tribe." Mulder finished the story and looked down to see if Scully was still awake.

Scully was looking up at the stars, a smile spread across her lips. "That's quite the story" she said with a small laugh. "I gotta admit, I did not see the main character death two minutes in, but the son living up to his mother's name, it hits ya right, here." she placed her hand lightly over Mulder's heart for a fraction of a moment. 

They lay in silence after that, watching the stars twinkle above them, and enjoying the fact that they were so close together. Scully could hear every beat of Mulder's heart against her ear, and Mulder was playing with the ends of Scully's hair, twirling the short strands around his fingers and moving the hair from her face as the wind placed it there. 

The silence was only broken when a shooting star broke out across the sky. "Make a wish Scully." Mulder whispered to her as the streak disappeared from sight. 

Before he could stop himself, Mulder leaned in and placed his lips on Scully's forehead for a moment. He pulled back lightly, but as he looked down at her Scully looked up at him, and moved herself closer. Mulder without hesitation pulled Scully toward him, and got his lips within a centimeter of hers, but then he paused. He was giving her a chance to run. 

Scully knew what was going to happen as soon as she looked into Mulder's eyes, but when he paused she to allowed a moment for the universe to pull some kind of stunt to stop them. But when nothing happened, she pushed herself up the last few millimeters and her lips met his. 

They kissed for a moment in which the world spun around them, leaving them there, together. Then Mulder moved his lips from Scully's and dropped little kisses down her neck, and asked between them, "what did you wish for Scully?" 

She breathed in sharply and smiled, "I wished for this night to last forever." 

And with that they were both swept back up into the moment, knowing that they were alone, with only the skies to watch them.


End file.
